


Flying Colours

by hollys_tree



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Harry Potter Next Generation, M/M, Painting, Renovating, Romp on old Newspapers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-12
Updated: 2012-06-12
Packaged: 2017-11-07 13:57:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/431919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollys_tree/pseuds/hollys_tree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James has new flat, a bunch of old newspapers and a huge selection of painting colours. Now, if only he could get Teddy as well, the night would be just perfect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flying Colours

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea for this fic after watching a certain scene of the movie _J'ai tué ma mère_ (engl. 'I Killed My Mother'), you can watch it on [youtube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWo6U1KQAGU) [NWS]. As always, many thanks to [nerakrose](http://archiveofourown.org/users/nerakrose) for the beta. <3

"I think it looks good," Lily said as she dropped down next to James on the floor and carelessly threw her paint brush onto the newspapers covering it. Her red hair was coming lose from her pony tail and wore streaks of blue paint, the same colour as the walls around them. She yawned and lay down, her arms stretched over her head, eyes closed.

James nodded and looked around in his future kitchen. "It does." There was nothing left of the greyish paint that had covered the walls just a few hours earlier. The old fashioned stove was still under papers and it would need a good polishing before he could use it, but Gran had already given him a bottle of 'Mr Murphy's Magical Polish', _It's a Must-Have for every good kitchen, darling_. The door to the tiny balcony – just big enough for a little table and two chairs – was just as dirty as the other windows in the flat, but James could already imagine the soft morning light falling through the glass when he made himself a cup of coffee, and then he would sit on the balcony and sip it before heading out to training. James smiled.

"I think Al and Hugo are done with the living room as well. With the noise they're making I would say they moved from painting to fighting," Lily said and a loud shout which sounded more like a battle cry seemed to confirm her theory. A moment later Al and Hugo stumbled through the door, using their paint brushes like swords. Hugo made an impressive move, turning on the spot to avoid Al's paint brush while twirling his own through the air to land it unerringly in the middle of Al's chest. A splatter of red paint landed on the floor and a few drops hit James' cheek.

"Hey! Careful, guys!" James called. "This took hours. If you ruin it I–"

He was interrupted by Al, who tumbled to the floor and nearly fell into his lap, doing his best dying impression. Al grabbed his chest, let out a loud painful grown and rolled his eyes back into his head. "Brother," he gasped, "you need . . . to . . . avenge me . . . " His body went limp and the brush fell from his fingers.

"Sorry for that," Hugo said grinning, vaguely gesturing to his paint brush and Al, not sounding sorry at all. Apparently he and Al had already been fighting for a while, judging from the amount of red on his clothes and in his hair.

James laughed despite himself and pushed Al's head from his thigh. "I hope some of the paint ended up on the walls too."

Al sat up again. "You could show a little gratitude, my dear brother. We're sacrificing our precious Friday evening to help you paint your flat after all."

"If you're getting the paint everywhere but the walls I wouldn't exactly call it helping, because I'd have to do it all over again. And I'm sure you'll be a fixture on my couch anyway, so you can bloody well help making the flat inhabitable."

"Yeah. . . I guess you have a point," Al grinned. "It _will_ be nice to get away from home every now and then until I can get my own place." He started scratching at a red stain on his leg and pulled a face when the paint ripped a few hairs out. "And relax, the living room looks fine; we're not stupid. If you only wanted a 'responsible adult' to help you, you should have waited until Teddy came back."

Teddy. James felt his stomach do a little loop and suddenly pretended to be very interested in the newspaper beneath his right foot. "He wanted to come but there was some rescheduling with the group he's training and he's in. . . Cardiff I think, for a field trip."

"When is he coming back?" Lily asked.

"Sunday," James said, not sure if he was more nervous or looking forward to it.

The thing was, James wasn't entirely sure what this was between Teddy and him. If there even was a 'this'. When Teddy had left for Argentina, James had been in his seventh year, starting to figure out how sex worked (with the Slytherin keeper no less) and he'd been saying goodbye to one of his best friends and 'almost brother'. When Teddy had come back two years later, James was twenty and had just signed on with the Falmouth Falcons. Teddy was still the same – laughing, hugging James tightly and ruffling his hair. It shouldn't have been so different but James had difficulties seeing Teddy, the brother, when his mind went somewhere more along the lines of Teddy, the really _really_ great guy. James couldn't stop noticing things like Teddy's hands, shoulders and eyes as if he hadn't seen them almost daily all his life. Not to mention his imagination running wild on various other of Teddy's body parts which were normally hidden under clothing.

And hiding something from Teddy was pretty much impossible. He had a certain way of looking at the world and people, and there was very little that escaped his notice. Which was probably the reason why he made such a good Auror. . . James never wanted to be at the receiving end of an official interrogation by Auror Lupin.

So James had expected Teddy to catch on and notice it when his eyes developed a life of their own and lingered too long. What he hadn't expected was to get similar looks from Teddy. Or the flirting. If it _was_ flirting they were doing, because James didn't have any super Auror skills and wasn't quite sure. Whatever it was, it was very subtle, excruciatingly slow and driving James mad. After all, you couldn't just shoot your 'almost brother' come-hither looks during family dinner or chat him up with, "Fancy a drink and a shag?"

And then there had been this evening at his uncle's garden party where James had asked Teddy for his help with the flat and Teddy'd looked so sorry for not being able to come because he'd just been assigned a new group of trainees. They had stood in a more distant corner of the garden where the voices and the music from the party were a little muted and James had felt his blood rushing; both from the several glasses of punch he'd drunk and the proximity to Teddy. He had been so close and–

"So are we done now?" Al interrupted James' daydreaming. "There's a party that requires my presence."

"And mine," Hugo added.

"What about the bedroom?" Lily asked. "I kind of have plans too tonight." Her tone was almost too casual and Al shot her a look through narrowed eyes.

"With whom? I thought you dumped that idiot?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, hm?" Lily flashed Al a grin.

"Ok, ok, you can go and take this somewhere else," James said. "I'll do the bedroom myself. I haven't really decided on a colour yet anyway. Maybe I'll do it later or tomorrow. But first I need some food, I'm starving. And thanks for your help, guys, this would have taken me the whole weekend if I'd had to do it on my own." James smiled at Al and Hugo and then tugged playfully at Lily's ponytail. "And Al's right, he _is_ an idiot, so I hope it's a girls' night you're heading to."

Lily turned her head away but hugged James with one arm. "No comment. And you're welcome. We expect a house-warming party though. . . with something other than Butterbeer."

"She's smart, your little baby sister," Hugo said and stood up. "With her priorities sorted out just right." He stepped over Al's legs to get to the door but at that moment Al raised his right knee a little and Hugo toppled down to the ground again.

"Ha!" Al called. "A Potter will never be defeated!"

The dripping red paint brush which had still been in Hugo's hand sailed through the air.

"No!" James leapt from the floor and tried to catch it, but he missed it by a few inches and the brush flew towards the nearest drying wall. But before it hit, it suddenly changed direction and flew over their heads in the opposite direction, towards the door.

James turned around.

Against the doorframe leaned Teddy, his hair the dark blue he preferred. He held a brown paper bag in one hand and his raised wand in the other; the paint brush hovering several inches before it. "And I thought red was for the living room," he said with a smile.

"Teddy!" Lily beamed at him. "James said you were in Cardiff."

"I was. But we came back two days early because of the weather, so I thought I'd come by and see how far you've got with the flat." Teddy came into the room and held up the paper bag. His eyes caught James'. "I brought some take out."

James' stomach did that odd flopping thing again. "Brilliant," he said and hoped the smile on his face didn't look as silly as it felt.

"Ok," Al said slowly into the stretching silence. "We're off then. I'm sure you'll manage on your own." He took Hugo's hand and helped him up and turned towards Lily. "Come on, we're Apparating you."

They all waved their goodbyes, Teddy hugged Lily on her way out and Al gave James a thumbs-up behind Teddy's back before he vanished through the door. James rolled his eyes. Sometimes he wished for a less perceptive brother.

"Do you want a tour?" he asked Teddy. "It's not big, but. . . well, I like it."

"Sure," Teddy agreed and when James walked into the adjacent room, he felt Teddy's hand at the small of his back for a moment. The warmth lingered even after the hand had left.

James showed him the living room first, gleaming in fresh red paint; the two big windows with the wide windowsills on the one side and the fireplace on the other. There was the door to the kitchen where they had come from another one to the tiny hallway and one to his future bedroom. The bedroom walls still wore an ugly wallpaper with tiny faded roses.

"I'm not sure what colour I will use here," James said and watched as Teddy crossed the room and looked out of the window. "I might keep it just white." He gestured to the pile of paint cans in the corner of the room. "But I brought every colour I could find in my parent's shed, just in case I change my mind."

Teddy turned around. "I think you should do something a little more interesting than white walls. It's the bedroom after all. You know. . . most people spend a good amount of time in there." He smiled and there was this wonderful little dimple on the right corner of his mouth that James longed to feel under his lips. He already had, at that garden party. When they had both leaned in and James had felt Teddy's hot breath on his mouth and those lips, tasting like sweet punch and something else that was just so _Teddy_. There had been just a hint of tongue. . . before a loud bang let them both stumble backwards – George always used the opportunity of garden parties to test out his newest fireworks. They didn't have any chance to talk in private afterwards and when Teddy had left for Cardiff first thing in the morning and James had woken up with a throbbing head, he couldn't help but think that maybe it had only been grandma Molly's infamous punch after all. Which had led to a week of being torn between hope and moments of doubt and he really, really hated the fact that the field training for Aurors took place in Cardiff where no-one but official Aurors could reach the group. And James would _not_ ask his father to send a letter for him to Teddy, asking: "Did you mean to kiss me or were you drunk?"

James tore his eyes away from Teddy's mouth. "Hm. Let's get to that take out, ok?"

There wasn't any furniture in the flat yet, so they settled down on the floor in the bedroom, leaning against one of the walls. Teddy told stories from Cardiff and James complained about the co-trainer of the Falcons, talking about his hopes of getting off the bench next season. They sat so close that their arms brushed every now and then when they reached for the take out containers, sending little waves of heat through James body. At one point James angled his leg so that his thigh rested against Teddy's and Teddy didn't pull away.

After they finished their food they fell into a companionable silence.

"You're going to put your bed there?" Teddy asked and pointed to the wall in front of them.

James nodded. "I think so."

"You could put all kinds of colours on the wall. Make it really colourful."

"Like stripes? I don't know. . ."

"No, I mean like Hugo and Al did – or almost did." Teddy swung his arm through the air. "Dripping it."

James thought about it; he liked the idea. If it didn't look good they could always paint it over again. He stood up and offered Teddy a hand. When Teddy took it James used a little more force than necessary to haul him up and Teddy stumbled into him. James felt Teddy's chest against his own and pressed his cheek against Teddy's neck for a second. Teddy's arms slid around him and kept him there.

"Smooth, Jamie," Teddy whispered and James felt his quiet laugh more than he heard it.

"I thought it was time to get a little more obvious," James murmured and put his hands on Teddy's hips. "You. . . you _wanted_ me to make a move though, right?"

"Yeah, I did," Teddy said. He pressed a little kiss into James' neck and James was glad Teddy's arms kept him steady because his legs felt a little weak all of a sudden. Then he drew back a bit and grinned at James. "Let's paint your wall."

And they did. James marvelled at how easy it was around Teddy. Now that he knew they wanted the same thing, he didn't feel the need to rush anymore. He just basked in the feeling that he could watch Teddy openly now instead of trying to steal hidden glances and most of the time his gaze met Teddy's, who was staring back just as intently.

They opened every single can of paint they had; the colours ranked from green to blue, yellow, red, black and white. Teddy dipped his brush in blue paint first and when he aimed it at the wall a streak of thick blue drops splattered over it. James followed with a similar streak in yellow and they continued until the wall was dripping with dozens of them, the different colours running into each other and creating new colours and patterns.

James watched the muscles in Teddy's arms and shoulders move whenever he swung his paint brush through the air and slowly felt heat pooling in his groin. Judging from the way Teddy traced James own movements, he wasn't the only one affected by this. They knocked into each other more often when they went to dip their brushes into fresh paint and their shirts wore more and more colourful handprints where they had steadied each other and let their hands linger.

When it looked as if the wall in front of them couldn't possibly hold any more paint, James threw his brush away. "Ok, that's it. Finished," he said a little breathless. He sank to the floor and lay back, feeling Teddy doing the same next to him. "It looks amazing, doesn't it?" He turned his head around but Teddy wasn't looking at the wall. The hunger in his gaze as it swept over James' face made James' breath hitch in his throat.

"Yeah, it does." Teddy's voice was hoarse.

They moved at the same time. James' put a hand in Teddy's hair and pulled him towards him. Teddy's mouth was so hot; his tongue sought out every detail of James lips and mouth, there were a lot of teeth involved, a bit of biting and way too little air.

"You. . ." Teddy groaned and rolled on top of James. "You're so. . ." He didn't finish that sentence because James chose that moment to suck Teddy's tongue back into his mouth and shut him up effectively.

James ran his hands over Teddy's back and then slipped them under the shirt to feel the hot skin. He dug his fingernails into it and was rewarded with another one of Teddy's groans that felt like shock waves in James' body.

James spread his legs a little, wrapping them around Teddy and Teddy started rolling his hips in little movements against him while their hand frantically roamed over every bit of exposed skin they could reach.

"You need. . . off. Clothes. . . off," James managed. Teddy was sucking at a particularly tender spot on the base of his neck which turned his head into mush. But James wanted to see and feel and taste all of Teddy's skin. And the hard cock he felt pressing into his own, through too many layers of clothing.

"Yeah," Teddy breathed into his neck but he didn't make any move to separate from James even an inch.

James gathered his remaining strength and pushed Teddy away from him. "Get your clothes off, Teddy."

Teddy stared at him from above, his weight resting on his arms next to James' head. The look in his eyes was wild, his blue hair was a tangled mess, his lips were red and shining with sweat and there was a dark bruise already forming under his left ear. James felt an overwhelming need to just yank him down again; they could get naked for round two, for all he cared.

But at that moment Teddy sat up straight and quickly stripped off his shirt. James stared at the lean muscled chest in front of him and made a move to get up too – he needed to get his mouth on one of these dark nipples – when Teddy's hand stopped him.

"I'm gonna suck you now, Jamie."

James sank back again. "Ok, yeah. . . that's– oh."

Teddy slowly traced the outline of James cock through his trousers, then he rubbed it a little harder. He went on to open the buttons and slipped his fingers under the waistband. James lifted his hips and Teddy pushed down his trousers and pants together. It was a bit of a struggle to free his legs from them with Teddy kneeling between them, but somehow they managed and Teddy tore of James' socks too.

"Your shirt," Teddy said while he caressed James' calves with his fingertips.

James lifted his torso enough to remove his paint streaked shirt and lay back completely naked. He should have felt more vulnerable like this, lying here like this while Teddy still wore his trousers – and with anyone else it might have. But with Teddy who was just watching him with dark eyes, drinking in every inch of James' skin, it gave him an odd sense of power.

"You're so fucking beautiful like this," Teddy said with something like awe in his voice. He moved his hands to James' knees, spreading them a little while he pressed small kisses to the insides of James' thighs. Teddy's eyes were fixated on James' cock now where it lay hard against his stomach, the tip flushed red and a few drops of clear liquid leaking from the slit.

Teddy moved his mouth to James balls and gently sucked on the hairy skin. James felt his eyes falling shut but he kept them open with effort. He needed to see this.

Now Teddy's tongue was running along the length of James' cock; it twitched and Teddy brought up a hand up to steady it. He carefully pulled back the foreskin to expose the shining head and with one last look into James eyes, he angled the dick away from James body and put it in his mouth.

James didn't fight his eyelids anymore; he let them fall shut and arched his back as he felt Teddy's moving up and down on his cock, drawing him in a bit deeper with every downstroke. And the way Teddy's _tongue_ played with his foreskin. . . James knew he wouldn't be able to bear this for long. And he wanted more.

He planted one foot on the floor to open his legs a little wider. "Teddy. . ."

Teddy looked up at him, his eyes a little unfocussed. "What. . .?"

His throat sounded sore and Merlin, that was because just seconds ago James had been _in there_ and James needed– "Fingers. Use your fingers," he gasped.

Apparently Teddy got it now because his eyes scanned the floor for his wand. "Where is the stupid–" He saw James' wand sticking from a pocket of his discarded trousers and pulled it free. Teddy's hands were still covered in different colours of drying paint, so James saw him cast a cleaning charm first. A few spots of paint vanished but the rest of it stayed very much the same.

Teddy looked up. "I don't–"

"Just get on with it. If your charms won't get if off, my arse won't do it either."

Teddy let out a laugh and conjured a bit of lube onto his fingers. "If you say so." He leaned down and pressed his mouth to James' cock again while the fingers of his right hand sneaked behind James' balls.

James winced when he felt the first fingertip covered in cool lube against his hole.

"Sorry," Teddy murmured into James hipbone. "I never managed to conjure the self-warming stuff."

James huffed. "You always were pants at Charms."

"I'm good at other things though."

"Merlin, that was a terrible– oh." James didn't say anything else for a while. Teddy went back to sucking his cock but this time it was even better, because there were Teddy's fingers too; slowly opening him up, giving him that burning stretch.

Then Teddy drew back again and James couldn't hold back the whimpering noise he made.

"Sorry, but I need to get out of these, they're killing me," Teddy said and fumbled with the buttons of his trousers. He pushed them down and aside unceremoniously and James got his first sight of Teddy's cock. It was thick and straight and the head was smeared with precome.

James mouth watered at the sight. He almost felt bad that he hadn't got a taste of it so far. "Next time, I'm going to suck _you_."

"Can't wait." Teddy crawled over him, giving James a rough kiss before he took his own cock and slowly guided it inside James.

It had been a while for James, so he was glad that Teddy gave him a moment once he was fully inside. Teddy mouthed his collarbone and mumbled something under his breath that sounded a bit like "Jamie, Jamie, Jamie. . .".

James slid his fingers into Teddy's hair and silently urged him to move. Teddy's thrusts started slow and gentle and Teddy made sure his stomach rubbed over James' cock with every one of them. Then their breaths started to come faster and Teddy put more force into the movement of his hips. James couldn't stop his hands from roaming over Teddy's back, gripping his hair and his arms; feeling his weight pin him to the floor.

Teddy pulled back. "Turn around."

James quickly complied and turned onto his stomach. The newspapers under him crumpled and he could feel them sticking to the wet tip of his cock. He spread his legs and felt Teddy slide in again. This had always been James favourite position and he wondered how Teddy'd known. Maybe it had been just a lucky guess.

Like this he could feel the hard length inside of him drag over his prostate with every thrust – and even though he normally preferred a bed with soft sheets to sticky newspapers, he knew he wouldn't need to use a hand; the slide of his cock over them would be enough to get him off.

James felt a hand in his hair, gripping it tight and lifting his head. James arched his back and leaned against the shoulder behind him while Teddy's hand slid from James' hair around to his cheek to support his weight. James turned his head and his mouth found Teddy's. They kissed hungrily until none of them had any air left in their lungs.

"You close?" Teddy asked against his lips.

"Yeah. . ." James gasped. He let his head fall down to the floor again and concentrated on Teddy's movements on top and inside of him; Teddy's hands on James' back, tracing muscles and holding him down. James felt his orgasm building, a tingling feeling at the base of his spine that almost became too much – and finally came with a small shout, muffled with his forehead pressed against the floor.

Teddy groaned above him, rested his weight on his hands which sat on both sides of James' head and increased the pace of his hips. James felt too boneless for any big move but he leaned forward and licked over the bones of Teddy's left wrist. Teddy shuddered and stilled; with his face buried in James' neck he reached his orgasm too.

They remained like this for a few moments and James enjoyed feeling Teddy's breath on his neck and his thumbs drawing circles on James' arms, with the occasional kiss to his shoulder blades. But after a while it became impossible to ignore the wet papers glued to his skin and the ache in his body any longer. "Come on Teddy, time to get up."

Teddy made a noise and rolled off James's back to the floor. "Oh."

"Yes, 'oh'. I've been lying down here for a while longer, you know?"

"You need a bed."

"We can go shopping for one tomorrow."

Teddy smiled at him and his eyes were warm when he reached for James. "We. I like the sound of that," he said and pressed a soft kiss to James' lips.

"Hmm." James followed Teddy's mouth. "I think you're going to spend a fair amount of time in it, so it's only fair if you get a say in what kind of bed I'll buy."

They kissed a bit more but before it could go anywhere James sat up. "Urgh, I'm covered in sticky stuff. What is that all?"

"Your come, my come, lube, paint, spit, sweat. . . ink probably too," Teddy pointed out helpfully from where he lay propped up on one elbow on the floor.

James raised an eyebrow and threw a crumpled paper at him. "Thank you very much, Head Investigator Lupin. I'm going to shower. At least the plumbing in the bathroom is already installed." He stood up. "We can transfigure the papers into a mattress later, well– _I_ can transfigure it or it will probably vanish at one point during the night." He turned towards the door and asked over one shoulder, "Are you coming?"

Teddy got up and slung his arms around James. "Yes, I am."

Later when they were showered and clean with slightly damp hair, when they were lying on a transfigured mattress that still had a newspaper pattern beneath their wall –James wouldn't ever be able to look at it without thinking of it as 'theirs'– James felt as if his heart was ready to burst from his chest.

Next to him he felt Teddy tighten his grip on James. "I'm very happy, Jamie."

"Don't go all sappy on me now, Teddy," James huffed but he tightened his own grip in return and when he buried his face in Teddy's neck, he knew that Teddy could feel his smile.


End file.
